{"id":37924,"date":"2025-11-11T05:27:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T05:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=37924"},"modified":"2025-11-11T05:27:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T05:27:17","slug":"a-miami-beach-scene-that-locals-actually-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=37924","title":{"rendered":"a Miami Beach scene that locals actually love"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This article is part of FT Globetrotter\u2019s <\/em>guide to Miami<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Walking into the lobby of The Standard Spa in Miami Beach feels like when, in Mad Men<\/em>, Don Draper first encounters Los Angeles: the cold, jaded New Yorker enters a world of smooth lines, loose creamy knits, perfectly tanned bodies and blinding white teeth. The hotel also, somehow, feels like a sexy retirement home. People sit in rocking chairs as the afternoon sun cuts through the floor-to-ceiling windows. They wander, slowly but attractively, across the tile floor.<\/p>\n

In I walked, haggard from my New York-Miami flight, in head-to-toe black denim. The receptionist looked at me warmly but slightly apologetically, and ushered me towards my room, where I showered, changed and re-emerged decidedly reframed. I dropped into the gift shop for sunscreen and considered buying a $200 bikini. I walked through the property\u2019s lush gardens, full of bird of paradise flowers, palm trees and tall hedges (which hide secret seats, presumably to read, take Instagram selfies or make out). I snagged a waterside table at the restaurant, the Lido Bayside Grill<\/a>, where I ordered an ice-cold green juice, fried fish tacos in lettuce wraps and then a cafecito, listening to light electrobeats as hot people rode past me on motorboats. Most of my local friends had recommended this place.<\/p>\n

In two hours, I was converted. Miami, baby.<\/p>\n

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<\/picture>
The Lido Bayside Grill<\/span> \u00a9 Alamy Stock Photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Originally the Monterrey Motel, this building was designed in 1953 by Norman Giller as a work of quintessential MiMo architecture<\/a>. By 1960 it had become the Lido Spa Hotel, one of the first health resorts on Miami Beach. It was known as a progressive oasis, an early proponent of helio- and hydrotherapy, using sunlight and water to treat pain. By the 1980s, it was a popular hang-out for retirees \u2014 especially for, as the Miami New Times<\/em> once described it, \u201chundreds of lovely Jewish ladies of a certain age\u201d \u2014 but in 2002 it closed. The Standard bought it, renovated extensively and reopened it as the Standard Spa in 2006. Close to its 20th birthday, vestiges of its past remain everywhere. On the hotel\u2019s facade, the massive, original baby-blue 1960s sign for the Lido Spa Hotel still greets you, with a small Standard logo beneath it. The hotel rooms are still motel rooms, but in a sexy summer-camp way.<\/p>\n

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\"Lobby<\/picture>
The lobby is like a \u2018sexy retirement home\u2019\u2009.\u2009.\u2009. <\/span> \u00a9 Claudia Uribe Touri<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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\"The<\/picture>
. . .While the front entrance reminds guests of the building\u2019s past lives<\/span> <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Pool<\/span><\/h3>\n

The pool is the heart of The Standard Spa. Its role in Miami culture was confirmed on my visit by a clay diorama on display in the lobby. It\u2019s called All Eyes on Deck<\/a> and was made by local artists Shelby Sladen and Caroline Castro. \u201cThere\u2019s only one place where sun, skin and sin come together,\u201d a plaque reads, \u201cand that\u2019s The Standard Spa\u2019s pool deck.\u201d In it, a clay round-chested lady meditates in the pool and a mermaid suns on a lounge chair. There are tequila bottles and a lost bikini top floating in the water.<\/p>\n

\"Large<\/picture>
The pool: a place for \u2018sun, skin and sin\u2019 <\/span> \u00a9 Adrian Gaut<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Twice, I lounged at the pool to experience the sun, skin and sin. Next to me, a topless woman sent her boyfriend to their room to nap and called a friend. I learnt he proposed to her the previous night, rose petals all over the bed, as well as a series of sinful details about what they did until 5am. Another woman walked past. \u201cFinally,\u201d they cried in camaraderie, \u201canother person with their top off!\u201d (The hotel is adults only. Women can be topless at the pool and in the spa.) <\/p>\n

Across from me, an old couple with leathery tans chomped on nuts. At the entrance, two skinny hipsters with canvas totes looked for a chair; more dirty New Yorkers, I assumed, who hadn\u2019t yet succumbed. Later, I passed the second topless woman on my way to the bathroom. She was reading The Artist\u2019s Way<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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\"Lush<\/picture>
The property\u2019s lush gardens, whose plants \u2018hide secret seats, presumably to read, take Instagram selfies or make out\u2019<\/span> \u00a9 Ken Hayden<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

A few weeks after visiting, I called Kevin O\u2019Donnell, then the Standard Spa\u2019s Director of Marketing and Culture. I told him about The Artist\u2019s Way<\/em> and the nuts. He laughed. He said the hotel doesn\u2019t have a lot of rules, but \u201cwe have zero tolerance for a bad attitude. So people feel comfortable.\u201d This Standard has a private membership programme, he continued, so it\u2019s important they create an atmosphere where people can, for example, chat with a celebrity at the pool and intuitively know not to ask for a selfie.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rooms<\/span><\/h3>\n
\"A<\/picture>
The rooms are small but comfortable<\/span> \u00a9 Claudia Uribe<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Standard has a reputation for rooms that are often small and functional, serviceable but not luxe. This is also the case here. Interiors are pine-y and cosy, with great beds as always, a private front porch to lounge on, a nice walk-in wardrobe and a small but clean bathroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know our rooms need some love,\u201d O\u2019Donnell told me, and said they are considering renovating them in the coming years. But guests are also meant to leave them, he added. \u201cWe don\u2019t want guests to come sit in their room and watch TV.\u201d There is one suite, but no other best room in the house, which O\u2019Donnell says creates a nice equalising effect. The celebrity next to you at the pool can\u2019t pay their way to much better.<\/p>\n

Spa and restaurants<\/span><\/h3>\n
\"Two<\/picture>
The hammam, free for hotel guests, is a great place to overhear gossip<\/span> \u00a9 Adrian Gaut<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The \u201cSpa\u201d in Standard Spa refers mostly to a cavernous, tiled, steamy hammam room that is free for hotel guests and which, when I visited, doubled as an excellent place to overhear strangers discuss their dating lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are myriad options<\/a> for massages, body treatments and facials, alongside sound healing, fitness and other classes, which range from \u201cFamily Constellations & Life Force Activation\u201d to a tantric class called \u201cSoulgasm\u201d (a deal, I think, at $75). I had a standard 60-minute massage from a masseuse named Max, who was delightfully warm and avuncular; a welcome interaction after two days of straight scene. He gave me a solid massage and earnest, helpful advice on various ailments he noticed along the way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Elegant,<\/picture>
The Monterrey Bar at The Standard Spa<\/span> \u00a9 Claudia Uribe Touri<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

For food, there\u2019s Caf\u00e9 Standard<\/a>, a counter-service spot open for breakfast and lunch with delicious, healthy options. Monterrey Bar<\/a> near the lobby is open from 5pm-midnight. And, of course, there\u2019s the Lido Bayside, where you can watch the boats. While there, you may want to strike up a chat with your neighbour. You never know who they\u2019ll be.<\/p>\n

At a glance:<\/em><\/p>\n